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An inebriated passenger who urinated on another passenger's seat during a long-haul flight between the US and India may be placed on a no-fly list

By Bernd Debusmann Jr

Mon 03 Sep 2018 09:46 AM

Air India is undertaking an internal investigation after an incident in which an inebriated and unruly passenger urinated on a woman’s seat during a flight between New York City and New Delhi.

The incident took place on flight AI102 on August 30, and quickly went viral after the woman’s daughter took to Twitter to vent her frustration over the incident.

“Disgraceful @airindiain yesterday on your flight AI102 from JFK to Delhi a drunk passenger removed his pants and peed on the seat my mother was sitting," Indrani Ghosh tweeted. "She was traveling alone and is completely traumatised."

Ghosh added that when she called to make a complaint, a call centre employee "asked me to go to the website and write a feedback."

"The details of the incident are extremely disturbing," she added, demanding a response from the airline.

Among those who responded to Ghosh's tweets was India's Union Minister, Jayant Sinha, who asked Air India "to follow up immediately” and report back to the country’s Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) and Directorate of Civil Aviation (DACA).

In response, Air India posted a statement in which it condemned the behaviour of the unruly passenger.

"Our sincere apologies to passengers of the flight inconvenienced by this act," the statement said. "Our cabin crew promptly went all out to alleviate the inconvenience of the passenger from the moment the incident occurred til the flight touched down at Delhi."

The statement added that while the airline has no control of the behaviour of its passengers, crew “are trained to handle any situation with utmost care and concern."

In a separate tweet later on, Air India said that details of the incident have been forwarded to authorities as part of a probe, and that the culprit may be placed on a no-fly list.

Anonymous sources quoted by India’s NDTV noted that an investigation is now underway in Air India to ascertain whether the crew properly followed standard operating procedures, whether the passenger should have been allowed on-board and whether there were lapses, if any, on the part of the crew.